Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Tobin gets his license and Rachel has a cello recital

On April 9th, Tobin took his driver's test and passed! He now is a legal driver in Massachusetts.
In MA the earliest you can get your license is 16 1/2. Taking driver's ed classes are hard for an athlete to fit in so he took a one week summer course from 8am-4pm. Even fitting in driving hours is hard. You can only book one driving hour a weekend because the school he was going through will not let you book back-to-back lessons. The weekends fill up quickly and were hard to come by. Finally, between winter and spring track he was able to book multiple driving hours. I don't know the requirements for other states, but we had to log a minimum of 40 hours with parents, 12 hours with instructors, a 40 hour class for the student and a 2 hour parent class. I am well prepared for Sarai getting her permit which she reminds us, on a weekly basis, is coming up in December! Wow, she is going to be 16 in December. Time is flying too quickly.

Here is a brownie we decorated with powder sugar to celebrate his license.

We had two choices for doing the driving test. One, you can supply your own car, which needed a hand break for the driving instructor to use, if you went to the RMV in Worcester and waited in their long lines to take a test. Or option two, you could book a Saturday test time with the school's instructor, use their cars and have a more definitive test time within 30 minutes of arriving. Option B had an additional charge, but with out busy schedule I chose option 2.

Tobin was so relieved once his test was over that he neglected to really pay attention to what the driving instructor said about his permit and license! He couldn't remember if his permit was good as a temporary license or if he had to wait for his license in the mail. We eventually figure out that his permit was his temporary license. Again, I will know so much more when Sarai is going through all of this.

Here is Tobin smiling for me. When he took his permit picture at the RMV, he did not smile. He did not realize that the photo taken then would also be his photo on the driver's license. We could wait in the long lines to retake a photo, but neither of us really want to do that until we have to.

Abram took Rachel to her first cello recital in Natick, MA. I was unable to go because one of us had to take Tobin for his driving test. The first task he had to perform on his test was to parallel park between two cars. We worked on this skill in the morning. I too learned a bit from teaching Tobin and now am much better myself at parallel parking.

Here are pictures of her:

Rachel had recently upgraded to using a 1/2 size cello instead of a 1/4 size. Notice the boot. She was able to carry the cello by herself on and off the stage.

I believe Abram said her piece was no more than a minute long, but it gave her a sense of performing in front of an audience. Next year, if she continues with the cello, she will be performing with the High School students and to a much larger audience.

The following day, she gave a mini concert for Jenna and Isaac in our living room. She is the only child who will perform willingly for relatives or friends.